Captain Michael Jankowski - saviour of Humanity
by Leonidas from Poland
Summary: What if the things were different ? What id the Infamous First Contact went better ? Was Captain Michael Jankowski an idiot, unfit for command or was he in fact saviour of humanity ? As usuall, not mine, not mine, not mine. All places, character, original events belong to the great maker J.S. Straczynski.
1. Who Am I ?

Who am I?

I guess you know who I am, or you think you know, because you have heard my name probably many times. After all I am quite celebrity, I am "trigger happy idiot" who gave order to open fire on Minbari Cruiser, killing their beloved leader and starting the Human Minbari War as the result. I am also known as the coward who, when faced with consequences of his actions, committed suicide. I could at least try to do something, to call them, to appease them. They hated us, at that time, they did not wanted to talk to us, but if their leader's killer called them, that could get their attention, they could listen at least for a while, they could stop and perhaps they could accept such offer. We would talk and we would have peace much earlier, and the price would be my head given to Minbari on the silver plate, but the war could be finished without the Battle of Line. I choose otherwise and that is the way my name will be written in all history books and this is how I will be remembered: fool, unfit for command, who obtain his rank and post only due to being married to influential senator's daughter, and finally coward who decided to run away. But that is only part of the story, the other part will remain unknown for all eternity, and no one will ever know that it was I who saved humanity and all known galaxy.

I understand that I have been subject of countless historical debates. That my action were almost vivisected. That I guess no one looked at me with sympathy. That I was the one to blame and all Earth Alliance arrogance was placed on my shoulders. After all we were arrogant. We have just defeated Dilgar and come out victorious as a new galactic superpower. I agree, I was not the best captain, and my promotion was mainly due to my father in law influence not due to my own actions. I had my share of failings like infamous Omega Incident. But I wasn't an idiot, as they say I was. And I cared for an Alliance and every man and woman in green-blue uniform. So when you nest time start another discussion "What if things were different? Was it all necessary? Did 250 thousand human needed to die in order for humanity to understand that galaxy is not great chocolate cake ready for us humans to take, but it is filled with dark and dangerous things?", don't judge me to harshly for I was made a scapegoat. And there is more to say than meet's the eye.

How can I be so sure? How could I know answers to all this questions? Do really you know? Well, if you insist: I know because I have seen it, I lived this scenario through. My name is Michael Jankowski and this is my story.


	2. And so it begins

And so it begin's

So how has it all started? Perhaps on the day when I received news of the planned mission to the Minbari border. I was completely alone in my office, Earth Alliance Headquaters, reading new orders, which has just came. Deep reconnaissance was something I did not expected, but I have been given a job and that meant long days and night of planning and preparation ahead of me. The next thing I done was to call my wife and where her face appeared at the screen I started:

"Honey, I am sorry, but I have to stay longer at work."

"Is everything all right?" she was clearly disappointed.

"I have just received new orders, and I need to prepare for a very important mission"

"Yes, daddy was telling me, that you will be sent for a deep reconnaissance"

"Something like that, but don't worry, when it will be finished they will probably give me some dull desk job, and we will have more time for each other. But for now I will be very busy" I faked tired smile, I was completely aware that I was not the most popular captain of the Earthforce, and I quickly understood what these orders really meant. They were sending me there to fly one another mission and then they will ground me. I changed subject:"By the way, how is Daniel?"

David was our son.

"He is playing, as usual" she turn her camera to show me ten years old boy, looking very much like as I at his age, engaged in combat. When he saw me, his face brightened:

"Dad? I have just beat the Deathwalker, I shot down her ship..."

I could not help but smiling, David was typical vivid child from the golden age of humanity.

"And I am sure that entire League is deeply grateful for it, but you have history test tomorrow, so don't play too long"

"But how do you…?"

"I know things, so stop playing, read your history book and go to bed early"

"But dad"

"Stop, book, bed" I repeated while smiling.

"It is unfair" boy was was clearly disappointed, but there was nothing he could do.

"So is the life" I finished with smile and disconnected after my son turned the game off. Did it bother you to know that I had a great son?

"So far, so good" the next conversation I knew would be much less pleasant. I choose the number of Earth Alliance Intelligence.

"Please inform Francis O'Leary that captain Michael Jankowski would like to speak with him, it is rather urgent."

Five minutes later familiar face of the famous analyst appeared on the screen.

"What can I do for you captain?"

The voice was polite, but there was slight shade of contempt behind it. I was definitely not very popular among members of secret services, not after "Omega Incident". I decided to play dump.

"I have just received new orders regarding deep reconnaissance mission"

"Yes, I know, and what do you need from us?" the same semi polite nod again

"I need everything we have about Minbari, all information about their culture, but the most important: I need their language files."

I was not an idiot, that was serious assignment and I needed to be prepared.

"Well Captain, as far as I know your orders, and I know them probably better than some captains, you are forbidden from initiating any form of contact. Your mission is to scan their borders, nothing more" the politeness was suddenly replaced by the slight annoyance,

"Yes Sir, I am perfectly aware of that this mission means. And I intend follow these orders to the letter. But Minbari are one of the oldest races in space."

"So?"

"That means that their technology is probably far beyond anything we have seen so far. They may know we are there the moment we leave hyperspace. I would not be surprised if they had the way to detect us earlier."

"That was some point of concern." the shade of contempt and annoyance in his voice was now gone, replaced with sincere interest. Suddenly I got his attention.

"Exactly, as I said I will try to avoid direct contact, but in case we are detected and asked for the reason of our presence, I would like to be able to at least understand them."

"They had dealings with the Centauri and the Markab in the past. They should know their languages" he was deep in his thoughts now. "So I would recommend using them in case of contact. They may also know the all form of interstellar"

"They are rumored to be isolationists. They may be not interested in other cultures and their languages. What if we are contacted by someone with... limited knowledge?"

"Interesting point" now, that was a time to turn tables around.

"You mean from the "trigger happy idiot responsible for an Omega Incident?"

Francis O'Leary was laughing. It took him some time to regain balance before he made his mind, but he has seen my point. As I said, I was not an idiot.

"You are right Captain. Too much can go wrong not to give you full access." if he only knew how much he was right. I we all knew.

"Definitely, I need to be prepared for every scenario, for the sake of mission and my crew"

"Very well, I will send you everything we got, and captain… good luck with your mission" he was no longer looking at me with annoyance and all it took was one request. Request I had to make, because the high brass from the top decided that I did not have know. But all of them they will blame me after all.

Two weeks later I was in space, on board the "Prometheus", deep in the hyperspace.


	3. First Contact and first changes

First contact and first changes

 _Deep in the hyperspace, in a secret chamber of Valent'ha cruiser, stood ten Minbari. Nine in grey robes, one wearing white. Nine grey standing in the circle, one white in the middle. Among this grey ones there was one woman, younger than anyone who has enter this room for many centuries. This young girl, barely woman by the Minbari standards, removed her hood and extended her hand to the triangular object, kept by the tall Minbari in white robes, to invoke sacred worlds, spoken for an almost one thousand years._

 _"I am Grey. I stand between the candle and the star. We are Grey. We stand between the darkness and the light."_

 _And the triluminari started to glow and the rest of the grey ones has gasped in mixture of awe, shock and disbelieve and the Dukhat the chosen one of all Minbari, the most respected leader in recent history, rumored to be Valen's incarnation by some, smiled_.

The mission to the Minbari borders has turned out to be routine so far. We were jumping to the locations market by the Earthforce HQ, scanning area, sending probes, collecting data, placing eavesdropping satellites, without being detected and without detecting anything suspicious. It seems that Minbari did not know we are there, did not care or simply even they weren't there. We were able to hack in what seemed to be their version of ISN Network, which helped us to understand their communications protocols a little bit and gave us chance to study their (extremely complicated) language. But that was one single peek of excitement, and after that all returned to normal boring routine (with exception of few crew mates who actually took upon them self the task to learn at least one dialect of this mysterious race). But beside this every sector we crossed, seemed to be as empty as abandoned. With every passing day my mission was coming to it's conclusion which meant both promotion to admiral to satisfy my father in law, powerful Harry Brogan and being sent to the desk job for me. It all has changed when we entered final point, the last one before our planned return to the Earth Alliance space. At first it was silence, that my first officer noticed something:

"Sir, we've picking up silhouette at the edge of our range"

"Show me"

The main screen has come to live and at the top of it we have seen something looking like blue angelfish. At first there was only one, but soon there was more of them.

"Is this all what we got?"

"Unfortunately yes sir, our sensors has trouble to pick anything more, they are using some sort of jamming technology"

"I thought this area suppose be well outside Minbari transfer points"

"Aye aye sir, it is. There is no reason they should be here"

"Unless the are looking for us" added someone with slightly panicked voice.

"No" I decided to cut the hysteria before it spreads. The main screen seemed alive now with blue silhouettes. There was one big, two smaller, and a lot even smaller. There were appearing and disappearing, but one thing was obvious even for amatour.

"There are in tight formation, it looks more like an escort mission. Were they looking for us, their ships would be wide spread"

I turned to communications than to navigation.

"Send the orders to the rest of scout group and use laser beam only to avoid detection. Tell them to stay behind, record everything and bail out at the first sign of trouble. Then match speed and set us to parallel course,"

The excitement which almost erupted at the sight of unknown ships was now gone, and with it my crew returned to it's usual professional attitude. As I look at the after radar I saw the rest of our scout fleet staying behind while forming the line. Even if we were detected such formation could not be seen as potential threat. And making threats was the last thing on my mind.

"Set passive scanner to maximum for any transmission and get me someone who has studied their language"

My first officer decided to protest:

"Sir, our orders..."

"Objection noted" I cut him, but added after the while:

"We are here to gather information and this is what we are going to do. You don't send fleet like this unless you have the way to supply them, and that could mean that they have base somewhere around here. Base we know nothing about."

"You expect military build up Sir ?"

"Perhaps, this we must examine or HQ will send another ship to do the same. In the meantime list the first contact protocol, just in case"

Someone has entered the bridge, it was one of this crew man, who for the last five weeks spent almost every hour studying the Minbari language files just like their civilian broadcast. He saw the silhouettes on the main screen and without the word took his place at the communication. The bridge went completely silent. Five minutes passed, than another five.

"Did we get something?"

"Nothing, silence on all frequencies we know they use for a civilian purpose"

"A lot of chatter on others, but it's all encrypted, interstellar frequencies are silent too"

Interstellar frequencies were used for communication between different races and by the beacons. This was something we adopted when humanity entered the galactic community, every know race was following this rule, Minbari should have followed it too. Their silence made my "hidden base theory" less and less probable. And if there was no base around, our presence here was becoming pointless. I was ready to issue an order to disengage and set course for EA space when suddenly the "angelfish" formation has changed it's course and went straight for us, and of course my first officer could not prevent himself from stating the obvious:

"Sir, they have seen us!"


	4. Soulhunters

Soulhunters

 _The sound of alarm drew Dukhat attention from the talk with his favourite acolyte to the matters of his fleet. They were, after all, going to mysterious home of the Ancient Enemy, who according to the ancient prophecies was about to return, so members of warrior caste tend to be more paranoid than usual. Fortunately it was not attack of the Shadows, nor any of their known servants. As Minbari Chosen entered the bridge, followed as usual by Delenn, he saw small fleet of something which could give lethal heart attack to every Minbari designer. Whatever it was, it was ugly. It looked like bunch of bricks put together and it has no regards for aesthetics whatsoever. But it also beamed with confidence and shown pragmatism of it's creators._

" _We detected these alien ships approaching our space"_

" _I have never seen these marking before, who are they?"_

" _I believe they are the humans" answered Delenn "I have studied their culture"_

" _As it is our custom, we are approaching with the guns port open" added young Satai from the warrior caste_

" _By who's order?"before this question was answered Delenn pointed something at the edge of the projection screen._

" _There … soulhunters"_

 _The screen zoomed so everyone could see fleet of small ships floating in the space far above the human scout group and every Minbari froze and tensed at that view. Soulhunters were the most hated beings, hated even more than Shadows and their presence was considered the worse possible omen. However they were doing nothing, they simply hanging there as waiting for something, until single ship broke formation and went straight for a leading human ship._

"Sir, alien ships have opened gun ports"

"Sir, Minbari warrior caste ships used to salute each other this way. They find it to be both gesture of strength and respect" added young communication officer, the same who has tried to understand their transmissions for several minutes.

"Are they preparing to fire?" I asked

"I can't tell sir, alien scanners are extremely powerful. I can't get clear reading on their tactical system"

The situation was getting tense and it could erupt any moment. Every second of silence was making it worse. We couldn't know if we are under attack or was it simple greeting and this was the worse part. We could stay and wait, but that would put entire scout group in danger. We could attack, but if we were wrong, that could be even considered as declaration of war. Or we could flee and it seemed the best idea.

"Activate jump sequence and lets all get out of here"

But Murphy decided hit us one more time, when my first officer Allan Chaffin came with another bad news:

"Negative sir, the alien scanners are disrupting our equipment, I can't open the vortex."

"Damn" the only consolation was that the other ships of the scout group has entered hyperspace without any problem. That gave me idea. If we could somehow increase distance between us and the Minbari fleet.

"Hail them"

"Sir?"this time I ignored Allan Chaffin

"Hail them, in their language, tell them that we are on exploratory mission and we are coming in peace. And that their scanners are affecting our navigation systems so we ask them to deactivate it. And keep repeating it until you get answer. Full speed ahead, we will try to sneak behind them and get some distance. It may be enough. Engine room: keep me posted. I want to know when we are ready to jump."

Communication officer started slowly to speak in alien, let strangely melodic language, clearly doing it for the first or second time in his life. He was doing this with difficulty but still better than any other member of my crew. The moment later the answer came:

"Incoming transmission"

Main screen has come to live again, this time filled with angry face belonging to the unknown humanoid species. But the creature, clearly older male, was not a Minbari. He was bald, but he lacking head bone, he had very human facial hair and its skin was almost red. He was looking at us with the madness in expression, his forehead decorated with jewel, which looked like third eye, and suddenly he screamed in perfect English:

"Not like this! Not like this! You supposed to fight them!"

And the "Prometheus" shuddered as his armour took first shoots.

" _They are leaving" Coplan said when two human ships opened the vortex and disappeared in hyperspace. He was disappointed, somehow he expected more from the race who has just defeated "mighty Dilgars"_

" _Have we changed our course lately?" as usual Anla Shok Lennon wasn't noticed until he spoke. The silence this Ranger was moving, his age considering, was envied by all members of warrior caste._

" _Yes, when we noticed that we are followed, we set course to intercept"_

" _Let me guess, our scanners are set to maximum and the last one is now accelerating"_

 _Before Coplan could answer Dukhat explained with sigh:_

" _They are young race, they don't know what to expect from us. Look at this ship, modular construction, function over the form, but also no artificial gravity beyond rotating sections. Our scanners must be blocking their jump engines."_

" _But why leave? We have done nothing to them"_

" _They don't know us and our gun ports are open which almost every race in this galaxy would consider the threat. They could stay, but this could endanger all of them, they could attack but they are not barbarians to initiate bloodshed, so they decided to leave to avoid confrontation when possible, before we get too close"_

" _Leaving one of them behind, cowardly"_

" _Rather unexpected, we have trapped them. And don't call them cowards, look at their fighters, how they placed themselves around the ship ready to protect it. If we attacked them they would return fire." Lennon has checked something and smiled:_

" _They are increasing speed, they want to pass us, get some distance and probably to jump in the hyperspace beyond the range of our sensors"_

 _Everyone at the bridge was studying the human ships with fascination, finally Coplan made a decision:_

" _Change our course to give them more space and do not follow them"_

 _Dukhat noded with satisfaction, his lifetime friend has a little regard for a younger races, but he also has his moments of pure genius. Suddenly young warrior guarding the communication console spoke:_

" _Incoming transmission, it is the language of religious cast, well sort of it"_

 _What they heard next was clearly attempt to communicate, full of static, spoken slowly like by someone who has started to learn language and is just trying to use it. Accent was strange, vocabulary poor and the grammar was almost non existent, but the effort was there and the meaning was clear:_

" _Unknown ship Minbari …. peace, exploratory … "Prometheus", scanners yours effecting … ship ours, deactivate … please. Come in peace"_

 _Everyone present exchanged amazed but also amused looks. And then the cataclysm struck, because the single soulhunter ship, the same who has broke from its fleet, ignored by everyone due to fascination with newcomers, opened fire at the exploratory human cruiser._

" _Master" Delenn spoke "I know their language. I could speak to them"_

" _Do it and offer them our assistance" Dukhat nodded and has turned to the main screen, but now his voice wasn't gentle as usual:"While we will deal with these damned soul thieves, all ships target their fleet and fire, I repeat: fire"_

"Prometheus" was under attack, but I knew it wasn't Minbari. Their fleet has turned to the left as giving us space to pass, then they changed their course as aiming something far beyond us. They were no longer after us. So who was it? Could that be that strange, mad looking alien?

"Damage report"

"Direct hit to the after section, armour is holding"

"Put the fire cover and try locate the bastard"

Gun of the "Prometheus" and every Sturfury available opened fire to the direction attack came from, trying to chase away invisibla attacker. The only result was another energy spike, this time from another direction and another hit"

"Evasive maneuvers and start rotation"

"Sir, the gunnery is asking for permission to open fire on Minbari"

"Denied, it is not them"

"Sir?"

"Denied, haven't you heard this crazy alien? Someone wants us to fight them. Transfer all non critical power to scanners and targeting systems"

"Partial lock at the stern board, definitely not Minbari, energy spikes again!"

"Lock and fire"

We could see bastard and "Prometheus" was now giving back all she had, just like his escorts, which greatly decreased attacker performance who could not approach us without taking heavy punishment from our Starfuries. Minbari were also shooting at someone and soon we have seen their target. The fleet composed from thousands of ships like the one attacking us, were towering for beyond us, trying to evade the share power thrown at them by the Minbari. They simply stood there frozen and after few seconds they all started to run. Funny, but the further they were from us, the better lock we had on our assailant. Finally after taking few more hits, crazy alien once more appeared on the screen:

"You have made a great mistake today: you supposed to fight them. You are dead, do you understand? You are all dead and we will not come to save you." and he was gone too.

"Burn in hell, the next time we meet..." I could not resist,

"Sir, another incoming transmission"

"If it is crazy alien..."

"No Sir, it is from Minbari and it is in English, audio only"

What we all heard next could be described as a young female voice:

"Humans, Delenn of family Mir of Minbari speaking here, greetings, you are attacked by our enemy. This is not our doing, we mean no harm, do you need help?"

"Casualty and damage report, initiate recovery operations and" I turned to communication "It looks like they were studying our language too, but perhaps we try find better way to communicate. Initiate first contact protocol."

 _The battle was over and soul hunters were fleeing in desperation much to the great disappointment of the warrior caste. All it took were just few shoots. Coplan was murmuring under his nose and what ever it was it was not a blessing. Delenn was standing at the communication panel, Lennon next to her, both engaged in conversation with humans. The rest of the crew were trying to hide their agitation and perform their usual duties. One thing was sure: everyone was safe. Dukhat sighted with satisfaction and relief:_

" _Well, that was interesting, soul hunters attacking us?"_

" _They attacked humans and it was one ship only" Coplan corrected, but he his interest was clearly picked._

" _Has these soul thieves ever attacked any one so openly?"_

" _No, they are cowards, they always avoid fight"_

" _A_ _nd what of the humans?"_

 _It was Delenn's turn to answer:_

" _They took some damage but they are all right. They have chased attacker away, and right now they are tending to their wounded while repairing their ship. They thank us for our assistance with this unknown enemy"_

" _They activated something they called first contact protocols. They are sending us their language file and basic culture data." Anla Shok Lennon turned his head with amusement "And it is big, the language is … complex and the culture data are very diverse, but since they had dealings with Centauri, Narn and Markab they suggests that we discussed what happened in one of these languages."_

" _Put me through then" Chosen of Minbari decided to take matter in his hands and spoke in Centauri so fluent like all his life was spent at the royal court of Emperor Turkhan._

" _This is Dukhat … of the family Dalzhan ... commander of the Minbari scout fleet, greetings, do you know any idea what has attacked you and what he wanted?"_

 _The answer came few seconds later, with male voice:_

" _This is Captain Michael Jankowski, commander of Earth Alliance scout group. No, we have seen such creature first time in our existence and have no record of them. But what ever it was, it was crazy. It clearly wanted provoke us. Do you know them?"_

" _Unfortunately yes, they are know to us as Soulhunters. They steal essence of dying to imprison them for all eternity. They are dark creatures native to this part of galaxy. By the way, what bring you here? From what we know, you are far away from Earth."_

" _The same we could say about you. From what we have heard this area is far beyond your transfer points, so it looks like we both far away from home"_

 _Coplan cursed under his nose clearly offended by such dismissive answer, these young ones clearly needed to be taught respect and proper manners when addressing their betters, but Dukhat only smiled. These humans were trying to hold their ground, and he was tired with constant worship, so such directness was quite refreshing. After the while human commander decided to add:_

" _Besides i_ _t is a long story, short version: we have been sent to investigate our borders for any unusual activity"_

" _In that case, perhaps we should discuss this in person, on board of my ship. Because it looks like this part of galaxy has become more unusual than we both could expect. Please, consider your self our guest"_

 _There was moment of silence, human commander was clearly considering his options, but they were too few of them. Minbari has just helped him, their attack on "soulhunters" somehow let him to lock on attacker, and they were known as the honourable species. Refusal was not an option, it could be interpreted as offence, and the share power of fleet they have just demonstrated was making it even less desirable. Finally his answer came:_

" _We are honoured by your invitation. But first I would like to tend to the needs of my ship and my crew and inform my HQ what happened. Lets say in one standard hour I will depart in shuttle."_

" _As you wish Captain, I will tell my assistant to make necessary arrangements"_

 _The connection was cut, and Dukhat has turned to Delenn_

" _Well, it is time to meet Captain Michael Jankowski"_

Two standard hours later the entire human scout group was reunited again, keeping respectful distance from Minbari, while I was aboard their flagship. And I must admit, I felt like transported in the future. Their ships were enormous, luxurious, and advanced beyond imagination. To put it simply, these were more than ships, these were marvels of technology, pieces of art and five star hotels in space put together equipped with artificial, slightly weaker than Earth, gravity. The amount of power needed to keep it must have been truly astronomical, yet they seemed not to care. After I left shuttle I was very politely welcomed by tree of their kind. One wearing the white robes of religious caste, one wearing as worker, and one wear as warrior. On the other hand I have decided to wear black, light environmental suit. This was first contact after all, so percussion needed to be made. I was led to one of the chambers and there he stood. He was tall, all dressed in white, his right hand holding the staff of some kind, clearly the sign of high rank. But what was most impressive was his face, almost human, if not the headbone. He smiled, bowed a little and extended his right hand which I automatically accepted.

"I believe this is proper welcome among the humans" he stated in perfect centauri, while the group of nine standing behind him, everyone in grey robes, has exchanged looks.

"Yes and it is called a handshake" I admitted while returning bow, he seemed to be quite comfortable with our behaviour, which could not be said about the rest, to gain some time I added "Open hand given to shake carries no weapon, therefore it can not strike, this is sign of peaceful intention. Besides to be able to shake it you are required to expose your front side to the other person. Therefore it is considered a sign of trust"

"And if someone would approach you while caring the weapon?" I got impression he he knew the answer but wanted to make a point.

"That would be interpreted as a threat. The one holding weapon is going to use it, sooner or later. There are of course exceptions from these rule, but that is general idea. I know it may sound strange, but these are our ways."

Dukhat has turn back, looking at his grey company knowingly:

"Please forgive us then for our ignorance. We are not accustomed to deal with outsiders. Most of us prefer solitude so our knowledge of others is limited. But we meant no harm. When we saw your ships, we decided to open our gunports in an ancient gesture of warrior caste. We show this way all what we got, that we do not hide our weapon to strike suddenly."

"Water under the bridge"

"Water under the bridge?" he was clearly amused

"It is a human expression, it means it is all in the past and it is forgotten. Our language is full of them."

"So I have been told, and it is fascinating"

He smiled, but the rest his company suddenly tensed once again. And not the grey once only, but all of them. They were looking at me with visible shock. Maybe not only at me, some of them were looking at the staff Dukhat was holding. When he turned to their grey companions, he accidentally put is closer to me, giving me opportunity to study it. This thing seemed to be made from something similar to Ivory, and was beautifully sculptured. It was narrow at the bottom, quite handy in the middle and at the top it created something resembling the crown, well sort of. In the middle of this "crown" there was triangular object, and every time it was close to me it was glowing with steady, white light. Entire room froze and everyone was holding is on hers breath, as if Elvis Presley appeared in the centre of EA headquaters and started to sing "love me tender". I did not know what to think about their reaction, did I make offence? Certainly not, beside Dukhat has made it clear that our ways were different and no offence was intended. He also seem to be shocked with their company reaction as well as I was, then he looked at the staff he was holding, then at me, then at the staff, and me again and his eyes brightened with a recognition. Whatever has happened I did not know what it was, but it had a monumental meaning for all of them. And of course he was also the first one to recover and to recompose himself:

"Thank you, whatever happened between our people during our first contact, it seems we got a lot in common. For example the creatures who attack you are our enemies too. I cant wait to see my people learning more about yours."

Whatever he meant, he was curious and clearly meant no harm.

"The feeling is mutual"


	5. New Future

New future

 _Two weeks later, Earth Force Headquarters, Geneva._

" _What to hell were you thinking? You were clearly forbidden to initiate contact and still you did it" to say that general Robert Lefcourt was angry would be understatement of the monumental scale. He wasn't just angry, he was devil incarnated and he was looking like he did no sleep from ages. Both Captain Michael Jankowski and his XO stood at the attention and Allan Chafin was the one to protest:_

" _Sir, their scanners are far superior to ours, they have detected us"_

" _After you decided to follow them for 12 minutes and 43 seconds, only to get your self in fire exchange with member of unknown race, or before?"_

" _Sir, we have followed orders to the letter"_

" _Than perhaps you will explain to me why did you decide to follow the Minbari, instead to jump in the hyperspace at the first sign of their presence?"_

" _We have been ordered to gather the information and this is what we were doing. The size of their group indicated presence of base. We needed to check if that was a case."_

" _I see, and have you found this mysterious base?"_

" _Negative sir, the interstellar frequencies scan turned out to be clean and their ships advanced technology clearly suggests that they can operate freely without the need of logistic net."_

" _I see then that you had your reasons, a_ _t ease gentlemen." Lefcourt noded with sight and turned to the Captain_

" _Anything to add?"_

" _Nothing Sir besides that I take full responsibility for my actions, and my crew was only following my orders"_

" _All right, you may leave Allan"_

" _Respectfully sir, I would prefer to stay"_

" _What we will discuss Allan is confidential. Leave us."_

 _The first officer of "Prometheus" saluted and left and room went silent. Finally Robert Lefcourt has spoken:_

" _Michael, I guess you know that you are deep in trouble?"_

" _Well, I got impression Sir, not that I understand the cause"_

" _So let me explain that to you. You were told to scan their borders, while avoiding being contacted. Instead you placed the surveillance net around them, I don't mind, you hacked in their ICN, again I don't mind. If here is anything I can't stand it is someone without initiative. You however get yourself caught and you were attacked by the unknown race, feared and hated by the rest of all galaxy. No problem here, you lived to see a day. Finally you decided to play diplomacy and went to dinner date with high ranking member of the most mysterious race in galaxy, Vorlons aside."_

" _Not that I had the choice after I was invited Sir and we are not married, not yet"_

 _The Chief of Earthforce has turned his head in amusement and pointed at the door:_

" _Do you know what is happening out there? I have got entire Entire Alliance Intelligence hanging at my steps, Francis O'Leary wonder of wonder, praising you and demanding another such mission, perhaps with you at the command. When they don't try to force me to sent similar scout fleets, they are at Senate steps screaming for more funds and staff to analyse data you collected. And Senate of course wants to know what has happened, formal inquiry is very likely. EA Intelligence and Senate aside, every race we have diplomatic connections has somehow learnt about what had we done. And they at my doors too, when they are not at the doors of "Queen Mother", which of course makes our beloved President Levy very unhappy. And of course president officially demanded explanations from me, since this scout mission hasn't been authorized by her. Again formal inquiry is very likely. "Queen Mother" aside, every race wants to know what we have learn, which makes guys from counter espionage in need of working twice as hard. They demand more funds too, which makes both the Senate and Queen Mother very unhappy even more. The only one fully satisfied are Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who now has new bargaining coin and in fact wants more. They are at my door too, knocking for another mission, probably to Vorlon border."_

" _So the satellites are working perfectly"_

" _They were, yesterday every one of them went silent after sending final transmission, do you want to know it?"next time try harder, Anla Shok" and we both know who they are. We still receiving something, but it is our guess, we see what they want us to see. It seems that Minbari don't like being watched. The rest of galaxy doesn't have to know that of course, we will give them some what we have learn, but we will play game of Vorlon. We will be cryptic and mysterious. So when attache Londo Mollari or representative G'kar will ask you ..."_

" _W_ _e do not confirm, we do not deny. But what we will do about the satellites?"_

" _We will try harder of course, IPX and New Technology Department are at my door, at Senate steps, at Queen Mother door, in who else knows bed, demanding for founds and more of exploratory mission. And I am on stims because I haven't slept for days."_

" _I am sorry to hear that sir"_

" _Finally someone who understands, so I have lived to see a day. And why I can't sleep? Because of the data you collected."_

" _Soul hunters?"_

" _Among many, every known race confirms what Minbari said to you, these creatures are considered to be some sort of vampire, the only difference they feed on the dying, not living, and they are not predatory. Still one of them attacked for reason unknown."_

" _And we have been able to defeat them"_

" _Only thanks to the Minbari, who's scanners ruined their jamming. If not, he could be simply flying around you, due to his superior stealth, picking you one by one. And the only chance you would had, would be the lucky shoot. Still one of their ship could damaged our back bone cruiser and they are known to have thousands of them. Which is forcing me to go to the Senate and to the Queen Mother steps and practically beg them for a better ships with improved technology. Still there is a hope that our new friends who hate Soulhunters would assist us in case of frontal attack. The rest of galaxy doesn't have to know that of course. Which bring us to the Minbari and the simulations we have been running over and over and over again using the footage of their fire exchange with Soulhunters only and the energy readings you collected"_

" _How bad sir?"_

" _Bad, it made Dilgar War nothing more than kinder garden party with clowns. We could conquer the League, we have defeated Dilgar, we could bit the Narns, we would survive Centauri with the very likely possibility of braeking their economy. Against Minbari we are however sitting ducks. If they played this properly, they could be here in weeks. We need new technology, new ships, new founds and new strategy, and probably some secret shelter for civilians just in case. And, I forgot, the news of your fire exchange with Soulhunters has somehow leaked to the press. And I have all of them behind these doors asking question about you, Minbari and this new enemy. So you see why I not a happy man. I got Intelligence, Senate, President, IPX, Foreign Affairs, NTD, every known Alien government and media following me even when I go to pee. Not to mention two nervous break downs and one fatal heart attack in the General staff due to overworking. If something goes wrong right now, who do you think will be responsible? Not that you are everyone's favourite"_

" _I get the picture"_

" _No, you don't, when it comes to you there are three factions. First thinks that you have performed professionally during last mission. Intelligence is backing you up, still they are not the members of General Staff. I agree with them (decision to follow Minbari instead jumping in to hyperspace aside). The other party don't like you, because you had more incidents as the captain than has been recorded seen since the Earthforce was created. They consider you walking magnet for disaster, and don't take it personally, I agree with them. It is not your fault, it is your bad luck. Final faction are these who hate you because your connection to Harry Brogan. They consider you to one of the "Brogan boys" and they will destroy you just to get to him through you. You got powerful friends, but also powerful enemies"_

" _And you sir?"_

" _I don't play personal politics, I got Earthforce to lead, Earth Alliance citizens to protect, I got to make sure mission are fulfilled, which you performed admirably, and order are obeyed, which you failed to do. So I am giving you a choice. Option number one. You are being promoted to a full admiral. You get hero's welcome, shining medals, Queens Mother handshake, standing ovation, and free ticket to Disneyland for David for live and Harry Brogan is getting his admiral. Everyone is happy. After that you will resign your commission. You will have to of course face Brogan then"_

" _I don't know, it sounds more like court martial"_

" _It is nice that you mentioned it, because it is option number two. You remain in the fleet, not promotion, just hero's welcome and shining medals. One month after that they will come after you, just to get to the Brogan. You have no friends in the General Staff and YOU HAVE DISOBEYED DIRECT ORDER, so it will probably end with dishonourable discharge, but it will be long and there will be a lot of dirty laundry. Do you really want it?"_

" _And what about option number three, if there is?"_

" _There is, it is the last one and it includes Minbari. Looks like, after long time of isolation, they have decided to open diplomatic relations. They requested embassy here on Earth and want us to open embassy on their home world. They suggested you as our representative."_

" _I am not diplomat"_

" _For many y_ _ou were hardly a captain Michael. You will get your promotion, shining medals, standing ovation, and one month after that you will get direct order from the President herself. I would like to see Harry Brogan face then and if he will oppose Queen Mother. And don't worry, we need you as our face there. You see from what we have learnt Minbari are all about reputation, they value honour beyond everything. They seem to trust you. David Sheridan is already preparing the team of his best, so is the rest of us. We will support you. From Queen Mother, Senate, IPX, NTD, Foreign Affairs, and Earthforce, even Press Corp. We will have your back. Formally you will remain member of Earthforce, if you want."_

" _Not that I got much choice, who would think: Minbari. So commander Dukhat of Dalzhan family has somehow persuaded his superiors to finish the isolation"_

 _Captain Jankowski sighted and general Lefcourt smiled, heartily this time:_

" _Dukhat of Dalzhan family has no superiors among Minbari"_

" _Sir?"_

" _Have you studied the data you sent, have you watched their ICN Michael? "_

" _Sorry sir, between navigating damaged ship and riders my hands were full"_

" _I see, you better sit then. Dukhat of Dalzhan family is not a commander of their scout fleet. He is their bloody President, virtually worshipped like Jesus may I add"_

" _What?"_

" _He is their leader, chosen for life, and he has more power than Centauri Emperor and Khari all put together"_

" _But Sir, what was he doing in the middle of nowhere?"_

" _We don't know, our best guess it has something to do with Soulhunters. Anyway, you have met him and you made good impression. So good they returned to their borders and they want to speak with us. And he wants you there. It is a golden opportunity."_

" _Damn it, now I understand shock of his companions. I have been talking to him like to the other military officer of my stature."_

" _Maybe that's why he wants you there. Our profilers claim that he is very modest man, and the constant worship is only making him tired. When you reach so high small things are the first to miss."_

 _It took some time for Captain Jankowski to process it all. General Lefcourt gave him few minutes before he asked:_

" _So how it will be, am I to understand that I should call you per "Mr ambassador"?"_


End file.
